Warning: This article contains details some readers may find distressing
A former French surgeon accused of the rape or sexual abuse of 299 victims is to stand trial in the country’s largest-ever sex abuse trial.
Joël Le Scouarnec, 74, will face hundreds of victims during a four-month trial in Vannes, Brittany, which started on Monday. Most of the victims were children, who were patients at the hospital where he worked.
Le Scouarnec does not deny the allegations, though he says he doesn’t remember everything.
He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted, on top of the 15 years he has been serving after being found guilty in 2020 of rape and sexual assault of children.
How did Joël Le Scouarnec become known to police?
The case began in 2017, when a six-year-old neighbour said Le Scouarnec had touched her over the fence separating their properties.
A subsequent search of his home uncovered more than 300,000 indecent images, as well as notebooks where he described himself as a paedophile and detailed his actions, according to investigation documents.
How many alleged victims are there?
The trial will examine alleged rapes and other abuses committed between 1989 and 2014 against 158 men and 141 women who were, on average, aged 11 at the time.
Some survivors have no memory of the assaults, having been unconscious at the time of Le Scouarnec’s alleged crimes.
What has Le Scouarnec already been convicted of?In 2020, Le Scouarnec was convicted of rape and sexual assault of four children and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Le Scouarnec has admitted child abuse dating back to 1985-1986, according to investigation documents. Some cases couldn’t be prosecuted, because the statute of limitations had expired.
Le Scouarnec had already been convicted in 2005 for possessing and importing child sexual abuse material and sentenced to four months of suspended prison time. Despite that conviction, he was appointed a hospital practitioner the following year.
Because of processing delays, the criminal record check requested by the Health Ministry at the time didn’t include any mention of his past offences.
Even after being informed of his conviction, health authorities and hospital management didn’t pursue disciplinary action.
What is Le Scouarnec’s legal team saying?
According to investigation documents, the doctor sexually abused both boys and girls when they were alone in their hospital rooms.
His strategy was to disguise sexual violence as a medical act, targeting young patients who were less likely to recall what had happened.
Central to the trial are defendant Le Scouarnec’s chillingly detailed notebooks, which he used to document decades of sexual violence.
Le Scouarnec’s lawyer, Thibaut Kurzawa, told Sud-Ouest newspaper his client will “answer the judges’ questions” as he decided “to face up to reality”.
Why are activists gathering outside the courthouse?
The trial comes as activists are pushing to lift taboos that have long surrounded sexual abuse in France.
The most prominent case was that of Gisèle Pélicot, who was drugged and raped by her now ex-husband and dozens of other men who were convicted and sentenced in December to prison terms ranging from three to 20 years.
Child protection and women’s rights groups and medical community associations see the trial as an opportunity to reaffirm that shame must change sides. They have called for a rally on Monday in front of the courthouse where Le Scouarnec will be tried.
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